


Place of Ruins

by LittleDarlingXOX



Series: Collisions in the Dark [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Damian Wayne (mentioned) - Freeform, Jason Todd (mentioned) - Freeform, M/M, Non-Consensual Kissing, Unrequited Love, Unrequited Lust, post-Collisions in the Dark, ra's al ghul's pov, semi unreliable narrator, set four years after Collisions in the Dark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-14 19:06:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18482497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleDarlingXOX/pseuds/LittleDarlingXOX
Summary: Tim Drake is much changed from the boy that Ra's al Ghul remembers him to be and Ra's likes to believe that he played a large role in his creation, for better or worse. Or: Ra's uses the death and resurrection of Damian Wayne as an ruse to tempt Tim again. Tim has other plans.// Set four years after Collisions in the Dark.





	Place of Ruins

**Author's Note:**

> Just something I couldn't get out of my head. The idea that Ra's and Tim would meet again but this time without the power imbalance of the previous fic. Now they're almost equals, but their mind games with each other still continue.

_Taklamakan Desert_

_18 mi South of Hotan,_ _Xinjiang_

* * *

 

Ra’s waited a good distance from the cave’s mouth in patient silence, content to make his presence known only at the right moment. Better to let his prey come out on his own than try flushing him out with force and risk losing him in the dark tunnels that twisted and forked inside the caves of this region. Ra’s had learned that lesson the hard way the first time and it had cost him nearly everything.

Besides, he very much doubted that his prey would be caught unaware. If he’d risk coming to this place, practically on the back door of the Demon Head’s domain, without anticipating the risk of discovery then he was not the boy Ra’s remembered him to be. Ra’s almost would have been angry at  such a brazen move if it hadn’t killed two of his birds with one stone.

Ah, speaking of birds…

Ra’s stepped down from the dry craggy perch that had served as his observation point as two figures— a man and woman—  emerged from the cave’s mouth and into the sweeping desert dunes: dyed a dark blue as the sun slipped below the jagged rock face that towered high above them.

His second daughter Nyssa was much the same as he remembered her; bellicose and as severe in personality as she was in dress with her loose tunic, pants, and long spear rested across her muscled shoulder blades. Since his previous run in with her, she’d continued to evade his attempts to root her out and finish her off for good. Despite how much Ra’s wished to put a sword in her, instead he held back— contenting himself for now with the knowledge of learning her most recent hideout— and focused his attention on the more important prize standing beside her.

Four years had changed Timothy from a eighteen year old boy into a man of twenty two and as far as Ra’s could see it had only enhanced every quality that he’d first found enthralling about him. The day or more of wandering the edges of the Taklamakan desert in search of Nyssa had tanned his skin to a light copper that highlighted the outlines of his muscled arms— a feature of Tim’s that Ra’s had never before appreciated.

He couldn’t stand by a moment longer.

Tim turned sharply at the sound of his footsteps, hand jumping to the dagger handle that rested against his hip. A Uyghur knife. Ra’s noted the locally crafted weapon with interest for he’d never known Tim to fight with a blade in all his years of closely following the boy. Was this a new development with his young detective? He couldn’t deny the temptation to provoke him to a fight, if only to see how he handled the blade and relish in how easy it would be to overpower him.

But Timothy held back and even threw out an arm against Nyssa as she swung her spear around with a hissed curse and the intention of stepping in front of him. His detective fixed Ra’s with his eyes, pale blue beneath the dark headscarf that blocked the ever-whirling sands.

“Ra’s.”

Ra’s smiled. “Hello, Timothy,” His gaze flickered over his daughter half heartedly. “Nyssa.”

Tim half turned to Nyssa, unwilling to pull his full gaze away from Ra’s. Smart boy.

“You can go. I’ll handle him.”

Ra’s smile widened. _Oh? You’re going to handle me, are you?_

Nyssa seemed to be debating if she cared enough to argue this point. Ra’s decided to help her with her decision. “Yes, run along, Nyssa. Perhaps Timothy will buy you enough time to flee with you life.”

 Nyssa growled at that, her grip shifting on her spear, but in the end she retreated back into the depths of the cave mouth with a respectful nod over her shoulder to Tim.  

Tim watched her go, but Ra’s quickly put at end to that. He struck out as Tim’s back was turned, grasping him by the chin and twisted him around harshly into an equally bruising kiss. It lasted no more than the briefest of moments as the younger boy’s hands came up immediately and shoved him off. But like a starved man Ra’s pressed his attack. Tim had barely retreated back a step before Ra’s caught him by the back of the neck and yanked him forward until he stood chest to chest with him, interlocking his fingers at the base of his head to keep him there. Tim gripped one of his wrists and arched his head away from Ra’s questing lips.

“Let go,” Tim snarled. Ra’s chuckled at the hostility radiating off the boy like heat and chose to ignore it like the useless show it was.

“Ah-ah,” Ra’s pushed Tim’s head back to face forward with the heel of one hand. “I want to see you. Don’t you want to see me, Timothy? After all, it’s been so long.”

He yanked Tim’s headscarf down around his neck. “Now, that’s better.”

Tim spat in his face. Ra’s blinked once, his anger flashing as he felt the saliva slide down his cheek. Still he checked his emotions… after all it wouldn’t serve to let his anger get the better of him when he had his prize in hand. He used Tim’s scarf to wipe up the mess and rewarded the boy’s slight with a heated kiss that had him twisting to break free by the time he pulled away.

“Stop,” Tim hissed.

“Make me,” Ra’s breathed against his cheek. “Or do you even want me to? Coming here without that stupid little shit you call a boyfriend to defend your honor. You’re practically begging for it, aren’t you, Beloved?”

Fire lanced up Ra’s body as Tim reached across his body and pulled his knife, slashing him backhanded across his midsection before flipping the knife and coming back with a downward arc to his legs that Ra’s only narrowly retreated from. He pressed a hand to his bleeding torso, breathing heavy as he glared back at the younger man for the move was iconically in the style of the Red Hood.

“You little bitch.”

The wound wasn’t deep, just enough to make a point.

“I don’t need Jason to defend me. I can do that just fine by myself. ” said Tim, wiping the blade off on his pant leg before resheathing it. “So, please tell me again how I’m ‘begging for it’, and see what the next thing I cut is.”

Ra’s dropped his hand and followed after him as he turned and made his way up the dunes, back the way he’d come. The dune buggy he’d used to travel to the caves from the main highway was parked a quarter of a mile off where the dunes gave way to the rugged mountainous landscape around Hotan. Ra’s stared at his back as they walked that distance— the loose shoulder and casual stride— not a trace of tension in his form. Four years of being hunted had made the boy fearless in the defense of his person. Ra’s would give him that. Gone was the boy that hid behind Batman’s cape when the full power of the league and all it’s assassins were thrown at him.

“When did he teach you to use a blade? I’ve never seen you fight with one before.”

Tim stopped and glanced over his shoulder, his dark hair blowing against his face in the strong winds. “That’s because you’ve never gotten close enough for me to need it. Dip yourself in your lazarus pit all you want, a few years of youthfulness still won’t make you strong enough to overtake me.”

Ra’s repeated attacks against him, Jason’s murder, the psychological manipulations… all of it had only served to hone him like a fine blade and now he was ready to cut back. Ra’s was as much his creator as Batman was.

Ra’s smiled. “Never say never, my dear. The day may come when you or some other member of your family needs my assistance, and trust me when I say that I’ll take as much as I can get from your indebtedness. Each year you spend evading me racks up _quite_ a lot of interest to collect on. It might be in your best interest to make a few minor repayments while you can… two nights a year— or even just one… I’m open to negotiating. And poor little Jason never has to know.”

Tim walked back towards him, eying him critically. “And I suppose sending the Heretic to murder Damian was your way of setting up the board for these ‘negotiations’, wasn’t it?”

Ra’s frowned with mock sorrow. “The poor boy, to be cut down so young. I hear that Bruce is devastated… that he’d do anything to bring back his son.”

Tim’s eyes were icy. “You’re a snake. Bruce won’t ever ask you for help after what you’ve done to me… what you’ve done to this family. And for the record, I’m not here to ask you either.”

“Then why, dear Detective, are you here?”

“Because I owe Damian a debt for what he did for me all those years ago. Because my fucked up history with you means that I’m the only one who can make this trip with a modicum of assured safety— if only because of what you want from me. And because you’re not the only person I know with access to a Lazarus pit.”

“Nyssa,” growled Ra’s, turning sharply to look back towards the caves.

Tim stepped up behind Ra’s’ shoulder. Ra’s could practically hear the smile behind his words. “I think I gave her enough time to flee, don’t you? And with the comm link I passed off to her, I have a feeling that by the time you track her down again, we’ll already have Damian back with us. Once again, Ra’s. You lose.”

Ra’s laughed. “Yes, maybe so, but you’re wrong about one thing, Detective. Safe isn’t a word I’d use to describe our interactions, especially when you’re this close to me and so _very_ far from home. I know what you like, no matter how much you try to deny it, and it’s something that Jason Todd can never give you. You’ll never be truly satisfied with a man who gives into you so easily.”

“Maybe, but just because I want something, doesn’t mean it’s good for me.”

“I’m not in the business of being good for you. And like the snake that I am, I’ll always be around to tempt you.”

Tim stared off across the dark dunes and let the silence stretch between them for awhile. Finally he spoke.

“I know something about you as well, Ra’s. You’ve always loved the hunt far more than you’ve ever loved keeping me. If I didn’t fight you, I’d be boring. I’d be just like all the rest. You don’t want a successor to you empire. You want a worthy opponent. And it’s for that exact reason that I know you’re going to let me leave here tonight.”

“Mmm. You do make an extraordinary opponent, Timothy.”

Tim pulled his headscarf back over his face. “Until the next round, Ra’s.”  

Ra’s stood and watched him as he climbed in his vehicle and disappeared into the distance. _Yes,_ he thought to himself with an eager yearning he couldn’t put into words, _until the next round_ . _I’ve got my eye on the prize._  


End file.
